Carly: A Kid In A Crazy Life
by xXBalorBabeXx
Summary: All it took was one incident, one act of self defense. She was protecting herself but what has she lost after that?
1. Chapter 1

It wasn't supposed to be like this, it was just a normal day… but right now, I'm holding a gun in my hand, there's a dead man lying on the floor... in a fucking hospital of all places!

The second the shooting between the rival gangs started, I hid behind the reception desk… I guess I must've screamed because next thing I knew, I was being held at gunpoint… then it all spun out of my control.

I drop the gun and leave, blocking everyone else out and walking out of the hospital, trying to make sense of what just happened.

Maybe I should start with my name. Carly Jade De Santa… before the botched bank job in Ludendorff 6 years ago, I was known as Carly Townley, youngest child of notorious bank robber Michael Townley.

My mother Amanda was a stripper who was also working as a prostitute when she and my dad met… she was also about to marry a man named Benson Law, who ironically, is the sheriff out in Blaine County.

Kind of twisted how life works out sometimes… from what I've heard about the Law family, Reginald Law was a ruthless bastard who consistently bent the laws he swore to uphold. Makes me wonder which side of the law I'm on now and which way is up.

It's a bit of a long walk back to Rockford Hills but when I get back home, I hear Mom and Tracey arguing about some guy that Tracey snuck into her room last night.

Thankfully, they're too busy to notice that I'm home. I walk upstairs into my room, pull my blood stained clothes off and kick them under my bed for now, the intention being to wash them later. Right now, I just need to clear my mind.

"Fucking hell, what the hell did I just do? I murdered someone, that's what I did." I say quietly after walking into the bathroom, pulling my bra and underwear off. Those could have gunshot residue on them, got to wash them too.

It's after I've cleaned myself off and gotten changed into clean clothes that I throw my earlier outfit in the washing machine, put some detergent in there and set the washing machine correctly before turning it on and closing it. I rest my hands against the washing machine, still shaken up from what happened.

It's when I hear more gunfire that I jump out of my skin and scream, Mom running upstairs to check on me.

"Jimmy, stop scaring your little sister with that game!" Mom shouts before resting her hands on my shoulders. "Carly, you okay?" She asks. I nod, Mom walking downstairs afterwards.

She's not the most outwardly affectionate or understanding mother out there but she's the only one I have… something tells me that she's gonna hate me when she finds out what I've done.

Later, when I'm in my room, I put the now dried and completely clean clothes away and try to act like nothing happened.

Right now, I just want to forget what I've done… but like seeing Brad get murdered in Ludendorff, this is something I'll never forget.


	2. Chapter 2

" _Nobody fucking move!" A gangbanger shouts, shooting the one person who did move and killing her immediately, scaring Carly and making her scream. The gangbanger grabs the tiny brunette and holds the gun at her head._

" _Idiot! She's just a damn kid-" Another gangbanger shouts, Carly biting the one holding her and wrestling out of his grip, grabbing the Combat Pistol, both fighting over it and it going off…_

 _Carly stepped back, blood on her… but it wasn't her own..._

Carly bolted upright, trying to forget the disturbing things that happened yesterday… but she couldn't… it was out of a newfound and right now, an unwanted instinct, that she pulled the trigger.

Carly flopped back down on the bed, turning onto her right side and glancing at her phone, seeing a text from Seth.

' _Turn on the news right now, you wouldn't believe what fucking happened yesterday!'_

Carly sat up, grabbing the remote and turning the Tv on… seeing what she hoped she wouldn't see.

"... so far, police have no leads on the girl's identity or if she's connected to any of the gangs involved in the hospital shootout. Witnesses described her as a young girl between the ages of 11 and 15 with light brown hair and deep blue eyes, wearing a blue tank top and shorts-" The news reporter says before Carly shuts the Tv off.

Carly stood up, pulling her robe on over her red tank top and navy blue pajama shorts with red stripes on them. She walked to her dresser drawer and pulled it open, grabbing the outfit she was wearing yesterday before walking downstairs.

It was only 5:40 in the morning, no one else was up yet… Carly had to make a decision.

 **Carly's p.o.v**

I find myself in the alleyway not too far from the house, the gardener's gloves on, a welding torch in one hand and a fallen tree branch in the other, yesterday's clothes in the trash can… I have to do this and then lie low, the cops will come looking eventually.

I set the tree branch on fire before throwing it in the trash can, watching the clothes burn until the fabric is completely gone. Once the flames are out, I take the torch and leave.

When I'm in the garage, I pull the gloves off after putting the lighter fluid away… I can't believe what I just did.

It was bad enough that I shot and killed someone and instead of going to the cops, I burn the evidence connecting me to the shooting.

I don't feel like I exactly have a choice here. The cops would get involved, then the FIB… then it would just spiral from there.

I walk upstairs into my room, kicking my slippers off and pulling off my robe before climbing back into my bed and pulling the covers over me.

I'm trying not to think about it but while I was walking back into the house, I was sure I saw a man in his early 20s watching me.

Tall, about 6'2", spiky silver hair… he didn't have any emotion, just a neutral face.

Now that I think about it… the way he was watching me creeped me the fuck out.

 **Ivory's p.o.v**

Tiny girl burning your clothes, trying to hide what you've done… ironically enough, I was caught up in that same shootout… and I know damn well what you did.

I set the newspaper down and walk into my room, trying to think of a way to lure this young girl into working for me… who would really suspect a kid of moving guns or drugs across the border anyway?

Most of my men are dead because of Jack… except for four of them. The one who ripped me off is Jacob… and he's still out there.

Maybe if I find out who the girl is… I can get her to track him down.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Amanda's mother's and sister's names in this are not canon. I was looking up the GTA Wikia while writing this and it mentions during friendship activities between Michael and Amanda that Michael says that Amanda's mother put her daughters on stage at the strip joint and was a manipulative pimp.** **Also, Ashley Philips is werewolf022's character. For more info, please read GTA V: Trevor's Daughter. And I'm introducing another OC named Henry Joseph, who will appear in future chapters through nightmares that Carly has about the shooting.**

"Oh, for fuck's sake." Amanda mutters as she stood up, the banging on the door continuing and everyone else who was here ignoring it. She walked over, yanked the door open and to her shock, it was Benson Law of all people.

The last time she had seen him was the day she had ran off from their wedding back in 1987.

"What are you doing here?!" Amanda asks impatiently.

"I don't want to be here and I wouldn't be here if I weren't investigating the hospital shooting from yesterday… I need to talk to your daughter." Benson says.

"What does Tracey have to do with this?!" Amanda asks.

"Not your oldest daughter… your younger one, Carly. CCTV cameras clocked her at the exact moment that she had shot someone-" Benson says, Amanda completely losing it and charging up the stairs and shouting for Carly, Benson following her as Amanda kicked the door to Carly's room open, Carly sitting up and half awake.

"You cold hearted, careless bitch!" Amanda shouts, her hand cracking across Carly's face and knocking the young teen awake, Carly screaming out in pain as Benson pulled Amanda back and handcuffed her.

"Let go of me! She's the criminal, arrest her! Get her out of my house!" Amanda shouts.

"What l just witnessed is assault and that means you're the one going into the car! If you had let me finished talking, we have a video of the shooting and I wanted to get Carly's side of what happened!" Benson says, dragging a still shouting Amanda out of Carly's room and downstairs, out of the house and putting her in the squad car.

After she had heard them leave, Carly stood up and closed her door, locking it and walking into her bathroom, looking in the mirror. Her lower lip was split open and she had a bruise forming near her mouth. Carly opened the medkit nearby and grabbed some gauze, opening the little packet and pressing the gauze to her lip to stop the bleeding.

She couldn't believe that Amanda had just struck her… she knew that the police would find out eventually but Carly expected that Amanda would've been a good mother and helped her daughter through this.

Carly at least thought… that Amanda wouldn't resort to this… especially after Amanda and her younger sister Harper were abused by their mother, Elena.

"Damn it… no wonder Aunt Harper ran off." Carly mutters, remembering when Amanda and Michael had waited until the kids were old enough to explain their pasts.

Carly pulled her robe back on and walked downstairs, grabbing a cold gel pack after throwing out the bloodstained gauze and pressing the gel pack to the bruise on her face as Michael walked in, immediately stopping when he saw her.

"Benson just called me… I told him they can keep her in jail." Michael says after walking over and resting his hands on Carly's shoulders, Carly flinching at being touched even though she knew Michael would never hit her.

"After everything that happened to her, even after that time she beat me with a belt… she said she'd never do it again." Carly says, remembering the time when she was 3 and Amanda had taken a belt and hit her with it.

The only thing that Carly had done was say that she wanted her dad to come home. Amanda had kicked Michael out of the caravan after Michael had slept with a stripper in Liberty City. After the incident, Carly ran out of the caravan and over to the Philips caravan, finding then 8 year old Ashley and telling her what had happened.

The look in Ashley's eyes was one Carly would never forget… Ashley did not take an adult hitting a kid lightly.

Carly turned around and Michael guided her to the kitchen table, helping her sit down and gently lowering Carly's hand, seeing the bruise.

"There are some days I wish I had never met that woman… but if I hadn't, you and your siblings wouldn't be here today. If anyone can straighten her out, it's Benson." Michael says.

"You sure about that one?" Carly asks.

"Amanda is screwed up because of how she grew up... it was a time where if kids didn't listen to or respect their parents, it would be beaten into them. But you were defending yourself, which I've always taught you to do." Michael says before the two hug.

 **Meanwhile…**

"One little punch is not gonna hurt her!" Amanda shouts.

"Did you not see her lower lip split open or the bruise?! It was more than just one little punch, you could've broken her jaw! Even after the marks disappear, that girl is never gonna forget that her own mother traumatized her!" Benson says angrily.

"Traumatized her?! That heartless bitch shot someone and yet I'm the one in handcuffs, how the fuck is that right?!" Amanda yells.

"The shooting was self defense, the District Attorney decided not to file charges against Carly! The bastard held her at gunpoint and she was protecting herself, you deliberately hit her because you lost what little self control you had and fucking snapped!" Benson shouts.

"Fine! I went and struck her! She's always been more like Michael and yesterday proved that she's nothing like me! And you know what?! I'll damn well beat that little bitch again! Self defense, my ass! It's not the first time she's lost control!" Amanda shouts.

"It's good she didn't turn out like you… she's not screwing strange men for money, she's not on a damn stage dancing half naked, you should at least be proud that she's not doing that! At least that way, she won't run away from a wedding and leave a six month old child behind! And as for what happened to Carly in that hospital, would you rather that she'd be alive or that you'd have to plan her funeral?!" Benson says.

 **A few hours later, Bolingbroke Penitentiary…**

"While it is upsetting to know that a young man is dead, it is even more upsetting to know what the young man, who has been identified as Henry Joseph, held a young girl at gunpoint in the middle of a hospital, where people are supposed to be safe…" The news reporter says before one of the prisoners switches the channel.

Sat in the back was Harold 'Stretch' Joseph, who was quiet… his younger brother was gone and to find out what happened before that angered him.

Stretch knew why the girl's identity was being withheld… because they often did that with cases involving people under 18, whether they were victims or responsible for the crime.

"Joseph?! You got a visitor!" The guard, a man in his mid 30s with short brown hair, green eyes and tan skin says before leading Stretch to the visitor's area.

"He's gone…" Stretch says.

"I lost a brother too… he was walking home one day when he was hit by a stray bullet." The guard says before they walk into the visitor's room, Stretch seeing Lamar.

Once Stretch and Lamar were alone, Lamar took a deep breath.

"I'm… sorry about what happened. Henry was a bit crazy but he was a good kid." Lamar says.

"They said some kid killed him… did anyone get a description of her?" Stretch says.

"Tiny, light brown hair, bluish violet eyes, wearing a tank top and shorts. Problem is, that also matches the description of most of the teenage girls in the higher class areas of the city." Lamar says.

Stretch sighed in frustration, rubbing his hands over his face.

"Get that anti-social drug dealer to keep an eye out, I think his name is…" Stretch says.

"Gerald, yeah… but even with him helping, it's like looking for a needle in a haystack in this city." Lamar says before leaving.

' _Someone's gotta be held responsible for what happened… if not the kid, maybe the cops who decided not to arrest her.'_ Stretch thought as he leaned back in the chair.

But could he really bring himself to hurt a kid?!


	4. Chapter 4

**Carly's P.O.V**

You live in the same house with someone like Amanda De Santa or whatever the fuck our family's fake last name is, you eventually realise that she's not always a nice person.

Hell, barely two weeks earlier before the accident, I did get into a fight with a boy who yanked up my shirt when I was walking down the hall and his group of friends just started taking pictures. When I pulled my shirt back down and yelled at him to fuck off, he hit me and a fight broke out. And when I told this to my mother, I thought she would've understood.

Instead, she started yelling at me that I could've seriously hurt the boy and that I need to control my temper. If someone randomly yanked her shirt up, how would she have reacted?!

If that had happened to Tracey, all Tracey would've had to do is start crying and Mom would've hugged her and told her that everything was going to be okay.

Looking in the mirror after getting dressed, I see that I managed to cover the bruise. I check my makeup, deciding not to put on any gloss on my mouth until the cut is gone. Thankfully, my mouth did stop bleeding though.

"Hey…" I hear, look and see Jimmy, who normally is playing Righteous Slaughter 7.

"Hey, Jimmy." I say, expecting him to yell at me. Instead, he carefully pulls me into his arm, the two of us hugging.

"Mom doesn't normally make choices like that, to hit one of us… are you feeling okay?" Jimmy says.

What do I say? That I don't know whether I can trust that my own mother won't hit me again after she gets out of jail?

"I'm okay… just a bit shaken up." I say as Jimmy and I let go.

"Let me know if you need anything, okay?" Jimmy asks.

"I'll let you know if I need anything." I say before Jimmy glances at my hands.

"I like that shade of grey, it's calmer… looks different than the nearly blinding pink polish Tracey wears on her nails." Jimmy says.

"Shut up, Jimmy!" Tracey yells from her room, Jimmy shaking his head and deciding to ignore Tracey's comment before leaving my room and closing the door.

Normally, Jimmy sometimes says "Carly, you should be more girly.". I guess today, he doesn't want to cause more tension and fighting. Makes me think of how Trevor used to stop the fighting between me and my siblings when me, Tracey and Jimmy were younger… damn, I miss Trevor.

I glance at the switchblade on the bedside table… it used to be Trevor's until he gave it to me as a birthday present for my sixth birthday. Unconventional present for a kid? Yes… but Trevor Philips is not a conventional person, he gives people the craziest things.

I know he's out there somewhere, still alive… North, South, East, West, wherever he is and wherever there are liquor stores to rob and hitchhikers to make disappear. As much as I care about Uncle T, he's also a very disturbing individual.

 **Third person perspective…**

Carly walked downstairs and outside into the backyard of the De Santa house, walking towards the stone railing. She climbed over it and sat down, doing what she normally liked to do this time of day… look out at the city.

It was then when Carly noticed someone watching her through the scope of a sniper rifle and ducked out of his sight, anticipating a gunshot to follow… but nothing happened.

Carly did look back up, getting a good look at the man. She guessed he was about 5'8", in his mid to late 20s, had a black shirt, white fedora hat, black and silver chain with the LS symbol around his neck, dark blue jeans and black shoes.

But now she was wondering why he had a sniper rifle with him if he wasn't going to shoot her.

Carly waited until the man left before heading back into the house.

At the same time, the man was meeting up with Lamar on Vinewood boulevard.

"You find her, Gerald?" Lamar asks.

"Or someone matching her description. She pretty much looks like every teenage girl in this part of the city." Gerald says. "But we've got bigger problems, those LS Hunterz are fucking up our business deals. Something has to be done about them, especially their leader Ashley Bryan… and here's the one thing, Bryan is a fake last name. I did some digging into her background, her real name is Ashley Philips, only child of one of the guys who robbed the bank in that small town... Ludendorff, I think is its name, in 2004. Trevor Philips." He says.

"So if she's related to a bank robber, why isn't she using his last name?" Lamar asks.

"I don't know but from what I found out about Trevor, I wouldn't want to piss him off. This guy makes Scarface look like Mr. Rogers and that ain't easy." Gerald says before deciding to stop talking.

He didn't normally talk too much but this was important. Being affiliated with a gang meant that you had to find out exactly who the threat is.

 **A few hours later, LS Hunterz clubhouse…**

"They've been running reports of that shooting ever since it happened. You think the media would focus on something else." Clint says, shutting the Tv off as Ashley sat next to him.

"The media are fucking bloodhounds, they find out a kid shot someone and run any story they could come up with." Ashley says, drinking her beer.

"Yeah… as long as they get their info and twist the story, they don't care what the fallout is. That kid is probably scarred for life from what happened and all the focus on the shooting isn't going to help her handle it properly." Clint says before his pager goes off, him looking at it. "Work never stops… I'll catch up with you later, Ash." He says before the two hug and Clint leaves.

Clint sighed as he reached Mount Zonah, walking into the E.R and finding Josh.

"Cops had to bring the woman in, her cell mate didn't take too kindly to her after finding out why the woman was in there." Josh says as Clint readjusted his stethoscope and looked at the patient info on the clipboard before walking into the trauma room Amanda was in, seeing that Amanda had bruises, a split lip and a slightly bent nose.

"Okay, Mrs De Santa… why don't you tell me what happened?" Clint says after resetting Amanda's nose, making her scream in pain.

"I got locked in a cage with a crazy lady after… losing my temper and hitting my youngest kid in front of a sheriff. The crazy lady asked why I was there… she didn't like my response." Amanda says as Clint checks her blood pressure.

"Well, there are people who take offense to a kid being hit. No matter what a kid did, it's wrong for a parent to hurt them." Clint says.

"Clearly, you didn't grow up when I did. You call it assault, I call it-" Amanda says.

"Lady, I don't care what you call it! Just because you were raised in a time where no one so much as blinked if a child was hit by their parents doesn't mean you can do it to your own kids!" Clint snapped at Amanda, who glared at him.

"If you're gonna be aggressive, I want a different doctor!" Amanda says angrily.

Clint walked out and over to Josh.

"Patient giving you hell?" Josh asks.

"Yeah." Clint says, Josh going to treat Amanda instead. Clint pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration… he didn't normally snap at patients but there were sometimes that a patient would occasionally push him over the edge.

Especially ones who believe that they didn't do anything wrong.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Shoutout to nycjf18, hardrocker21, James423 and Howl Of A Werewolf for reading and reviewing this story and to TraceandPierre for reading my stories. :)**

 **A few days later...**

 _Blasphemous Rumors_ by Depeche Mode played from Carly's phone as her earbuds were plugged in, Carly letting her mind calm down and enjoy the music soothe her nerves.

She didn't often let her mind wander, always feeling a need to stay focused… so she focused on the lyrics.

"Fighting back the tears, mother reads the note again… sixteen candles, burning in her mind. She takes the blame, it's always the same, she goes down on her knees and prays…" Carly sings softly, continuing to sing and getting slightly louder when she reaches "I don't want to start any blasphemous rumors but I think that God's got a sick sense of humor… and when I die, I expect to find him laughing."... but that part didn't make her feel better.

 _Sky Blue_ by Peter Gabriel started playing a few minutes later and Carly began to relax more… until towards the end of the song, she heard the front door slam shut and realised that Amanda had bailed herself out of jail.

"Fucking idiot sheriff." Carly muttered, starting to hate Benson for not being able to keep Amanda in jail. Carly focused back on the music as the live version of _That's All_ by Genesis began to play, Amanda banging her fist on Carly's bedroom door.

"Carly Jade De Santa, open this fucking door right now!" Amanda shouts, Carly knowing from the tone of her mother's voice that Amanda didn't feel any remorse about what happened… then again, Amanda never really felt remorse or regret after the incident that led to a young stripper crashing onto the hood of an Infernus and breaking her hip.

"CARLY, OPEN THIS FUCKING-" Amanda screeched, Michael yanking Amanda away from the door.

"Back off and leave our daughter alone, Amanda!" Michael shouts.

"She's the reason I ended up in lockup, Michael!" Amanda yells.

"The reason you ended up in lockup is because you fucking hit Carly right in plain view of Benson! He had no choice but to arrest you because you assaulted our kid!" Michael shouts.

All the stress from the car crash, shooting and now the yelling was starting to become too much for Carly. The tiny brunette shut the music off, and grabbed her phone and earbuds after standing up, shoving her phone into her shorts pocket and walked towards her window. Carly opened it and climbed out, closing the window before carefully climbing down the drain pipe and deciding to go for a walk, anything to get away from the yelling.

Once she was a good distance from the house, Carly plugged her earbuds in and put them in her ears before finding her music app again on her phone, _Precious_ by Depeche Mode playing.

The song reminded her of her parents sometimes, how they would fight and how it would get to the point where Amanda would threaten to take the kids and leave. Even back in Ludendorff, Amanda would sometimes kick Michael out for a couple days or take the kids and leave, which angered Carly sometimes… she didn't want her family split up but Amanda couldn't seem to give a damn.

Carly knew one day, Amanda was going to snap and take off… but she would only take off with Tracey and Jimmy, Carly was not going to leave with them.

Carly ended up by the construction site near the motel… and since it was getting late at night, the site was quiet. The small teen walked to the nearest ladder she could find and climbed up it, eventually stopping in one of the areas that would probably be turned into an office when the building was finished.

' _Just for a few minutes.'_ Carly thought before lying down on one of the pallets. She shut her music app off and put her earbuds in her pocket before closing her eyes.

 **Carly's P.O.V.**

"Hey, kid, you can't sleep here!" I hear, open my eyes and look up, seeing a construction worker and realising that it was morning. I sit up, blinking the last bit of sleep away.

"Sorry… just meant to rest for a few minutes." I say, realising something else… my dad is going crazy looking for me!

"From what I can guess so far, you're not homeless. And you look harmless enough so I decided not to call the cops… and I've got a kid about the same age as you, I would be scared to death if she was wandering around the city late at night. So why were you wandering around in the city?" He says, sitting down. He looks like he's the same age as Dad, maybe a bit younger.

"I… I really fucked things up… and now my mother hates me." I say.

"I'm sure it's not as bad as you think… what happened?" The man says, me noticing a bit of grey in his dark blonde hair but no other signs of age or stress. Then again, we all age in different ways.

"I… I shot someone… it was…" I say.

"That shooting at the hospital… that was you who shot that guy?" He asks.

I nod, the man turning sympathetic. "I saw it on the news… we all do things we wish we hadn't done but had no choice in doing. Killing is never easy but you were protecting yourself. If my daughter had to do what you did, I wouldn't turn my back on her." The man says, pulling a photo out of his shirt pocket of him and a girl of about 14… but I can notice something unique about the girl in the photo, that she has two pupils in her right eye. "When I found you sleeping, I almost mistook you for K8lynn… she doesn't like being alone at the house sometimes." He says.

"It's… just you and her?" I manage to ask.

"My wife died just after K8lynn was born… K8lynn was originally a triplet, which is why she has two pupils in her right eye. She was conjoined to one and the other was stillborn… she's all I have left, I don't know what I'd do if I lost her." The man says.

I… I really don't know what to say…

"No one ever really knows what to say after I tell them what happened." The man says before we stand up. "Will you be okay on your way home?" He asks.

"Yes… and thanks for not calling the police…" I say.

"Matt. And your name is..." He says, extending his hand and me shaking it.

"Carly… thank you, Matt. I'm gonna get on home." I say before walking to the ladder and climbing down it, exiting the construction site and seeing Dad's Obey Tailgater, Dad getting out of it and running over to me, both of us hugging.

"You had me scared to death, kiddo! I woke up and went to check on you but-" Dad says.

"I shouldn't have taken off like that, Dad. I'm sorry." I say as we let go and get in the car and buckling up, closing the doors.

"Don't be sorry, just don't scare me like that again. Now let's go home, kiddo." Dad says before starting up the car and driving off.

I lean back against the seat and look out the window, seeing the sun illuminating the city…

I can't take back what I've done… but I can try to fix things before they get crazier.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: There will be more flashbacks leading up to what pushed the characters over the edge and caused one or more to lash out and fight with each other.**

" _Come on, it was harmless! Stupid little sluts like your sister and mother are used to this, so you should be too!" Eric says after Carly pulled her shirt back down._

" _Fuck off, Eric! You have no right trashing my family, you loud mouthed prick!" Carly shouts, Eric punching her right in the face. Carly snapped, crash tackled Eric and started beating the hell out of him until the fight was broken up by Carly's friend Seth and Eric's friends Brandon and Todd._

 _Once in the principal's office, Carly explained everything, Principal Salerno nodding in understanding._

" _Since it's your first offense, I'm going to suspend you for the rest of the day, Miss De Santa. Once you explain this to your mother, I'm sure she'll understand."_

 _Carly nodded… but she wasn't so sure that Amanda would understand._

 _She grabbed her backpack, thanked her principal for being understanding and listening to her before walking out into the hallway, finding Michael there._

" _Come on… let's get out of here. Everything will have blown over by tomorrow." Michael says, gently taking his daughter's backpack before they headed to the car._

"This is ridiculous, I don't see why I have to apologize!" Amanda shouts after Carly and Michael got home and Michael explained that if they were all going to live under the same roof, they at least had to try to fix things.

Turned out that Amanda didn't like what Michael had to say and once again, lost her temper.

"I didn't intentionally kill that guy, I shot him after he held me at gunpoint! You, on the other hand, went off and hit me out of pure rage and it was far from the first time you lashed out at one of your own family!" Carly says.

"Because _you_ always pick fights with people for no reason, you spiteful bitch!" Amanda shouts, Carly getting fed up and bolting upright, startling Amanda as Amanda hated jump scares.

"You never gave me a chance to explain what happened that day at school so you're gonna listen right now! You want to know why I fought with that punk?! Because he called you and Tracey stupid little sluts and I was defending two members of my family! Obviously, you don't appreciate that I hate it whenever someone insults one of us!" Carly says, yelling halfway through despite trying to stay calm.

"Why… didn't you-" Amanda starts to ask.

"Explain it then? Because you went off and called me a fucking screwed up kid after I said I was in a fight. You know better than anyone that I never start fights, that I only act in self defense and in defense of my family… at least I thought you did. All you've cared about since we moved here is what part of your body you want to have chopped off or sucked out again because you feel like you're getting old, even though you're still young. 40 is not that old nowadays, that's still considered young." Carly says.

"Amanda? Nothing to say now?" Michael asks.

"I didn't know she was getting treated like that at school…" Amanda says, looking at Carly after standing up. "And I'm sorry that I didn't listen, Carly." She says, trying to hug Carly, who flinched out of instinct and backed away, Amanda knowing why… she had destroyed her daughter's trust in her by hitting her.

Carly walked out of the kitchen and upstairs, Amanda sitting down again.

"I don't get it, I at least apologized. That's more than my mom did whenever she picked a fight with me." Amanda says.

"That was a different time, Amanda. Remember how much you hated it whenever Elena hit you and Harper?" Michael says, Amanda nodding.

 **7/13/91, Ludendorff…**

"Harper, where are you going?!" Amanda says, the pregnant 21 year old having decided to visit her 23 year old sister, only to find her packing her things up.

"I can't take it anymore, Amanda! I'm done working in that damn club, I want a chance at a decent future!" Harper says, tying her dark brown hair into a messy bun after she finished packing. "I'm gonna go stay in Liberty City… I got accepted into college." She says, reaching out and resting her hand on Amanda's stomach as Tracey kicked. "Keep that beautiful little girl away from Elena." She says before grabbing her duffle bag and leaving.

Amanda blinked her tears away before leaving, ending up back at her and Michael's caravan and walking in.

"Hey. What's wrong?" Michael says after walking into the living room, pulling Amanda into a hug.

"Harper just left… I don't think she's coming back." Amanda manages to say, burying her face into Michael's shoulder as Michael rubbed his hand up and down Amanda's back to try to soothe his sobbing wife.

 **Present time…**

Carly heard a knock at her bedroom window after getting dressed and putting her makeup on, going and opening the window and letting her best friend Seth Harris in, closing the window.

"Damn… I guess Amanda flipped out when she found out what happened." Seth says, seeing the scabbed over cut on Carly's lower lip.

"Yeah, she did… things are kind of strange now. She apologized and tried to hug me earlier but…" Carly says.

"You flinched… that's a natural reaction after being hit, Carly." Seth says.

"I wasn't trying to offend her but…" Carly says, hearing the door open and seeing Tracey.

"Oh… I'll just… let you two talk." Tracey says before closing the door and walking downstairs, back outside and to Ivory. "Sorry, she's busy right now." She says.

"Okay, no problem." Ivory says before leaving, Tracey walking back in and glad that Ivory had left.

Something about him just really creeped her out.

"Is that guy gone? What did he want?" Michael asks.

"At first, I thought he was one of Carly's friends but he… just kind of creeped me out." Tracey says.

"Well, maybe he won't come back." Michael says.

"Can you kill him next time he does?" Tracey asks jokingly, Michael laughing as they hugged.

"There's that sense of humor… hopefully, things between your sister and mom will calm down. They have strong personalities so it can be hard to tell when things will calm down." Michael says before they let go.

"Well, Carly's always been more like you, Dad." Tracey says before deciding to head out for the evening.


End file.
